Jason Vonick, Nick Segal, and John Oakes, from Ketchikan, Alaska, made the rescue on Sept. 30, according to ABC News. To pull the whole thing off, the men had to anchor their fishing vessel and bring a smaller, 15-foot boat out to the rocks where the female orca lay. Then, they used their oars to help free her.

"As soon as... we realized we actually could move her a little bit, we just did what we had to, really grunt, groan, and put some sweat into it," the men told RightThisMinute.com. "And we did it."

The group's combined patience and determination make for one incredible video.

"[The whale] never fought us," Vonick later told the news station. "She just sat there docile and calm the whole time and let us do what we needed to do. If we stopped petting her, she'd cry some more."

A dog named Shaggy is handed from a National Guard truck to National Guard personnel after the dog and his owner left a flooded building in Hoboken, N.J., Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2012, in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. Some residents and pets are being plucked from their homes by large trucks as parts of the city are still covered in standing water.